Warrior. Poet.
King
Pt. 4 David and Mephibosheth
1 Samuel 9
David, in the Bible, was a man’s
man. He was the kind of guy that all the little Jewish boys pretended to be. He
was a poetic, noble warrior. He was strong, yet gentle. Stern, yet gracious.
So far we’ve looked at the stories
of how David interacted with Goliath, Saul, and Jonathan. We’re kind of
following a timeline here. And now we come to an absolutely beautiful story of
David that is sadly not taught a lot. I
believe it’s a very clear image of the Gospel, and so we’re going to study this
story in light of the Gospel. Allow me to set up the scene for you.
Saul and Jonathan have died in
battle. The Israelites were retreating and the Philistines pursued them.
Jonathan was caught and killed. Saul continued running, but soon realized he
also was going to die. And so, rather than let the Philistines have the honor
of killing the Israelite King, he committed suicide. So the story of Saul and
Jonathan ended there on a bloody battlefield, but their legacy continued on.
Word came back to the palace in the middle of the night that Saul and
Jonathan were dead. As the servants were awakened there was sorrow and dread.
In those days, if a ruler was defeated, it was customary to kill off his entire
family so there would be no heirs. Saul and Jonathan died, which meant
Jonathan’s brothers, Ish-bosheth would become king. Ish-bosheth was a cruel man
who would certainly kill off Jonathan’s family.
Soldiers were already starting to
get anxious. And not before long, they heard Ish-bosheth coming with his
soldiers to take over. That’s when the servants and family fled into the night.
One servant, scooped up Jonathan’s five year old son, Mephibosheth, and without
any time to gather belongings or clothes she fled the dark palace. She could
sense she was being pursued and so she ran all the faster. She was just making
it into the all clear when she tripped on a root. She and Mephibosheth tumbled
to the ground and the boy fell at an odd angle, breaking his back and paralyzing
him. The servant scooped him up and continued running for their lives.
II Samuel
4:4 Jonathan,
the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old
when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him
up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his
name was Mephibosheth.
So now there is chaos in the royal
palace. A growing number of people are following David and are demanding his
rightful place to the throne, while Ishbosheth, who has crowned himself the
king according to the customs, won’t give it up. Years pass, chapter 4 ends,
and we’re kind of left wondering, “Why was Mephibosheth’s story even in there?”
And then the plot thickens…
Ish-bosheth is killed by an insider. The assassin brings word back to David,
thinking he did a wonderful thing, but David is grieved to have a family member
of his best friend killed in his name. So he has the assassin killed, but he is
none-the-less, crowned as the new King of Israel. However, years pass on again.
David gets lost in his duties as king. Until…
II Samuel
9:1-5 And David said, “Is there still
anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s
sake?” 2Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was
Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”
And he said, “I am your servant.” 3And the king said, “Is there not
still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to
him?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled
in his feet.” 4The king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to
the king, “He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” 5Then
King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at
Lo-debar.
David summons Mephibosheth and the
servant from the Land of Lo-Debar. Interestingly, the name Lo-Debar is
interpreted as, “Land of nothing.”
I Samuel
9:6-8 And Mephibosheth the son of
Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And
David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.” 7And
David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of
your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your
father, and you shall eat at my table always.” 8And he paid homage
and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog
such as I?”
He had lost his ability to walk,
his inheritance, and his family. He was a broken man living in the land of
nothing. We can safely say, Mephibosheth is in a dark and desperate place.
I Samuel
9:9-13 Then the king called Ziba, Saul’s
servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I
have given to your master’s grandson. 10And you and your sons and
your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce, that
your master’s grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s
grandson shall always eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty
servants. 11Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my
lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do.” So Mephibosheth
ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons. 12And
Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who lived in Ziba’s
house became Mephibosheth’s servants. 13So Mephibosheth lived in
Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his
feet.
In a beautiful climax of the
story, David vows to take care of Mephibosheth and treat him well. You might
have already put the pieces together, but let me lay out the Gospel for you
according to this story.
We’ve all been broken by our own fall. We’ve been paralyzed and are
incapable of taking care of ourselves. Our
fall was sin. And that sin left us broken and alone with nothing to our
name but emptiness.
God summoned us just like David summoned Mephibosheth. And when we answer that call He brings us
to his table.
This table is a position of royalty. In the palace it was well-known
that only the king’s family and guests were to sit at this table. David made it
very clear, Mephibosheth was to be considered family. So God takes us from a
position of brokenness, forsakenness, and helplessness and sits us, as his
children, at a table of grace.
What a beautiful picture of God’s redeeming grace! It doesn’t
matter who your family is. It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from. It doesn’t
matter how deep your brokenness goes. It doesn’t matter that you come from a
land of nothing. God has called us to
join Him at His table. And what’s absolutely gorgeous in this picture is
that, so long as Mephibosheth sat at the table, he could not see his broken
legs. But you know what he did see? The spread in front of him. A feast of
grace. And this is the truth for you.
If you’ve put your trust in Jesus
Christ, remember this, you were called out of nothing. You were helpless. And
God set you at his table. You need to remember this, to humble yourself. Perhaps
you are fixated on your sin, and you’ve convinced yourself that your brokenness
has disqualified you. Simply scoot back up to the table. Let God’s grace cover
your sin.
If you’ve not whole-heartedly
trusted in Jesus to forgive you of your sins, would you answer His call? He’s
calling you out of your sin, and to His table. He is offering forgiveness and
salvation in exchange for your sin and emptiness. He wants you to become His
child and sit with Him at His table.
